Pre-birth, newborn screening helps reduce child deformities

Hanoi (VNA) – As many as 80 percent of the 40,000 children born in the Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital every year receive pre-birth and post-birth screening for deformities detection, according to a senior official of the hospital.

Le Thanh Thuy, Director of the hospital’s centre for pre-birth and newborn screening, said that screening is important in the early diagnosis and treatment of a number of serious diseases, to avoid grave consequences in both the mental and physical development of children.

Currently, the centre can detect 35 different diseases in infants through screening, including cardiac isssues and Sickle Cell Disorder, Thalassemia and other haemoglobin disorders. The diseases can be completely treated if diagnosed in time, Thuy said.

According to the World Health Organisation, about 8 million children worldwide are born with a disorder every year, accounting for 1.73 percent. As many as 95 percent of those disorders can be healed with timely intervention.-VNA